Giheung, Yongin kalguksu with no weekday lunch wait: Yubok Kalguksu

I was looking for somewhere to eat lunch near the Korean Folk Village in Yongin and ended up at Yubok Kalguksu in Giheung. I'd heard it usually has a wait, so I was a bit worried, but when I visited around 12:30pm on a weekday, I walked right in with no waiting.

Parking and inside Yubok Kalguksu near the Korean Folk Village

Yubok Kalguksu Yongin Korean Folk Village Branch is at 24 Minsokchon-ro, 1st floor, Giheung-gu, Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea. The parking lot was large, so it was convenient to visit by car.

There was a waiting area with chairs near the entrance.

Inside, the space was quite large. It was split into two main areas — one used for group reservations and a separate main hall. It looked comfortable enough for a group visit, and seemed like a good spot for a family meal or a gathering.

There was a separate self-serve bar, and baby chairs were available too. The staff were friendly overall, so there was nothing uncomfortable about the meal.

Yubok Kalguksu menu and prices

• Kalguksu jjukkumi set ₩15,000
• Buchu jjukkumi (chive octopus) ₩16,000
• Jjukkumi seafood buchujeon (chive pancake) ₩15,000
• Pufferfish seafood kalguksu ₩11,000
• King meat mandu (4 pieces) ₩7,000
• Charcoal-grilled jjukkumi stir-fry ₩16,000

There were two of us, so we ordered the kalguksu jjukkumi set for two, and added flying fish roe to eat with the octopus. Looking at the nearby tables, most people seemed to be ordering the same thing we did.

Perilla leaves, flying fish roe, mayonnaise, kimchi, and yuja radish salad were set out first.

Charcoal-grilled jjukkumi stir-fry mixed with barley rice

While the kalguksu noodles were cooking, we started with the jjukkumi stir-fry. It's easily one of the best jjukkumi dishes I've had recently. The charcoal aroma was really good.

The jjukkumi was springy yet tender when I bit into it, with no chewy or tough parts — the texture was excellent. The sauce clung nicely to the octopus too. It was quite spicy, but not so spicy it was hard to eat — more like a delicious kind of spicy that kept me reaching for more.

The jjukkumi was tasty on its own, but it was a different experience eating it with barley rice. It had been a while since I'd had barley rice, and the texture of the grains was so good.

I mixed the jjukkumi and yuja radish salad into the barley rice and stirred it all together. The spicy sauce on the octopus combined with the slightly tangy yuja radish salad made the whole bite feel fresher. I also wrapped jjukkumi and flying fish roe in perilla leaves and ate it like a wrap. Every element that came with the jjukkumi seemed to go well together.

What the pufferfish kalguksu looks like when it arrives

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The kalguksu came out as pufferfish kalguksu. Rather than everything arriving in one bowl from the start, a pot of noodles in broth came out first.

A separate bowl arrived generously filled with sea squirt, clams, oysters, raw vegetables, and zucchini.

A staff member added all the ingredients into the kalguksu broth at once. There was more sea squirt and clams than I expected, so once everything went in, the broth got pretty hearty.

The staff member even turned over a three-minute hourglass timer and explained that we should eat the noodles once it ran out.

Pufferfish is a low-fat, high-protein food that also contains vitamins and minerals, and it's long been enjoyed as a health food in Korea. That said, because of its toxicity, pufferfish requires professional preparation, so it's important to eat it at a place that specializes in handling it.

Rather than a strong pufferfish flavor on its own, what stood out about Yubok Kalguksu's pufferfish kalguksu was the refreshing broth infused with seafood.

The broth was clean and light, leaving my mouth feeling refreshed after each sip. The seafood flavor from the sea squirt and clams made the broth taste especially cool and refreshing.

Eating the light, cool kalguksu broth alongside a bite of fresh kimchi added a spicy kick and crunchy texture. The combination of kalguksu and spicy, crisp kimchi worked really well.

The broth was so good that I kept spooning it up. By the end, I think I'd drunk so much broth that I felt a bit too full on liquid.

Free dessert bar: puffed rice crackers and self-serve Starbucks coffee

After the meal, there was dessert too. Puffed rice crackers were laid out, and there were as many as three kinds.

I picked the red and yellow crackers, which had a slightly tangy flavor.

On one side, a coffee machine and ice were set up so I could make my own iced Americano. I don't usually drink the instant mix coffee you find at restaurants, but this place uses Starbucks beans, so I got a familiar-tasting Americano. I made myself a cup and took it with me after finishing the meal.

Is Yubok Kalguksu worth a weekday lunch trip?

Yubok Kalguksu was a great spot for a hearty lunch since you can enjoy both jjukkumi and kalguksu in one meal. The combination of smoky charcoal-grilled jjukkumi and the light, refreshing pufferfish seafood kalguksu worked especially well. If I'm ever near Giheung or the Korean Folk Village in Yongin craving jjukkumi and kalguksu, this is a place I'd want to visit again.